Revisiting Planned Relocation as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy:<br>The Added Value of a Human Rights-Based Approach

Abstract

While scientists warn that a number of Indo-Pacific islands will submerge by 2050, the media are actively reporting on the already disappearing lands. What does it mean for the people of these ‘unlucky’ regions, who are often amongst the poorest and with the least adaptive capacity? One of the officially pronounced adaptation responses is planned relocation. Yet, due to its enormous human rights costs and its negative past experiences, the idea of planned relocation is generally met with little enthusiasm. The strategy remains undeveloped and the way it is carried out remains unclear. This article aims to change this situation and to fill the gap within the existing legal research on human rights that are at risk during planned relocation. It argues that a forward-looking human rights-based approach is a tool that can extensively contribute in sustaining these endangered rights and ultimately in strengthening the value of planned relocation as an adaptation strategy.